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Please stop fucking up Blizzard. Return them to how they were before you purchased the company, and pull your dick out of their ass. http://wow.joystiq.com/tag/sta... Notice When everyone started pulling away from World of Warcaft? http://finance.yahoo.com/echar... Notice Blizzards stock plummet in 2008? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... Isn't it funny that within a year of Activision purchasing blizzard that their stock tanks, their games suffer, and everyone looks the other direction? Diablo 1 and 2 were awesome. Several expansions of World of Warcraft were awesome, and StarCraft was great. Activision took over and Diablo 3 was horrid. Wrath of the Lich King was the last expansion that was mostly completed before the acquisition and every expansion since then that Activision started making changes to has tanked. If Blizzard wants to survive, buy yourselves back and make a run for it.

Destiny killed it. It was too similar. Once Bungie signed with Activision it was all over.

you're totally right about the ban on historical video games! Oh yeah, except for Valiant Hearts, about WW1. Coming out this thurs for iphone/ipad, made by ubisoft. http://www.joystiq.com/2014/08....

so I guess you're not right?

I think they may get more "sales" but less revenue. http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05... In the above some of the delelopers made more money on psn because they sold more games at full price. I think there may be a bit of an Apple/Android effect going on. Where console gamers are more willing to spend money than steam gamers. (generalization as many steam users are console users)

Legal issues aside (I'm not sure they have a leg to stand on, but it worked for them in the Glider case) we're talking about a multiplayer game. Cheating in a match against other players most certainly has a detrimental effect on those others' experience.

And google says: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03... It's about the platform not the hardware. When it is about the hardware nightmares like the Neo-Geo emerge.

Once upon a time WoW was worthy of the gaming geek... now it's watered down drivel complete with kung-fu pandas... who even plays this any more?

7.8 million people.

The kung-fu pandas joke is old.

So, I do a bit of computer security research. I hammer on programs and OSs and make my own. I've gone on and on about how we should disband the NSA, and how it's just pointless scaremongering to get funds to suppress freedom, not protect anyone. Say they trace a compromise of government systems to my IP address. I've clearly got the know-how, and motive. Yet I'd stand up in court and say, "I would NEVER take such action against the government." It's the truth. With great power comes great responsibility, and all that jazz. It's against my ethics to do that. So that's what this "brain trust" is doing. Broadcasting the fact that I'm not pleased with the state of things, and that I can operate a system like nobody's business.

Now, being that this data is online, and we know the NSA (who also works with the FBI) can potentially compromise any online or digital data to forge "evidence" if they want (and they've been known to manufacture stuff in the past) how the hell can we trust anything they say? How can that IP log be trusted? -- They could just want to get rid of me. My own systems could be compromised (and a firmware dump shows at least one of my routers is). So, there's absolutely no online evidence that should be admissible in court nowdays, you see. I mean a judge? Hell they'll lie to congress in the name of "national security".

Video is one thing -- a bit harder to fake that, but not impossible given today's props and special effects. Digital mods to photographs can even evade detection if you know what characteristics they'll be looking for. But posting text online? Seriously? No, nothing said online should be taken seriously. I mean, I make games and stories involving aliens and cybernetic overlords, and make posts in such character. We can't just demonstrate selection bias here -- They want to include some of my online content, let's include it all, including the bit about being the sysop of a parallel Universe, the Corn Kernel Equality Activist, the Atlantian anthropologist studying breeding habits American hairless apes, the Disappointed Alien Overmind, and the parent's basement dwelling anti-socialite, and the sentient primordial ooze who's noticed some zany carbon based reactions going on in the aftermath of that one zit that popped with a big bang, etc. There's enough bullshit in there to make just about any kind of claim you want about me through quote-mining, you damned pop-culture supporting cornsagonist.

The defence doesn't get access to the real state level evidence to present their side of the story due to "national security", so parallel construction can be done in secret anyway. Yeah, let's subpoena the NSA's Ferret Cannon logs to see if it had any exploits targeting the clients? No? Well then quote mining online shit is ridiculous.

Hard evidence is an altogether different story. Perhaps online posts can be used for probable cause, but seriously? Scarface's Coke Shot? Prove it's not Anthrax or some other white powder. The AK47 and other guns could easily be fakes. Are they? What did the evidence turn up? Cash isn't illegal to have either, though the feds would like to make it that way.

You don't think kids don't do fake shots all the time to brag? You think they don't lie their asses off to 1up each other? Think they don't lie about kicking someone's ass, or telling off some parent, teacher, the convenience store clerk, or even about having GF's or BF's that are really just strangers or acquaintances in a photo with them, etc. You think I believe you get off to hairy fucking feet because that's what your online username says?

It's one thing to be driving over the speed limit and get caught. It's quite another to have silly shit folks post online influence jail time. You better wise the fuck up, idiot. They're arresting kids for saying shit in World of fucking Warcraft. The

What gamers really need is a 3 day full refund on any title they buy.

Which gamers would abuse.

Similar thing with used games, steam always has the full catalog available at any time

How long will that continue? I've heard of games on other stores getting taken down because the license had ended, such as Yoshi's Cookie on Nintendo's Virtual Console. What reliable source states that Steam is any different?

As for bandwidth and availability, Steam could offer a paid service where they would burn backups of the games in your account and send it to you through mail.

That would help for slow or capped Internet connections but wouldn't help people who go without Internet entirely for several weeks, long enough for Steam to expire your offline mode ticket.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/11/22/report-ps4-and-vita-ultimate-bundle-coming-to-uk-this-year/
Too bad I already own a Vita and the PS4 is only getting released in Japan in February.

On a side note, I'd love if sony made the rumored PS VR headset compatible with the Vita as well. There are some funny applications I can think with a handheld+VR system.

You're thinking of AVR, which was banned during Lich King.

I think what's meant is the freedom to obtain and use games that happen not to be released on Steam yet. How many games in the Not on Steam sale are ported to desktop Linux?

I don't think those are current numbers (maybe they're from 2008? According to VG Chartz, they have the Xbox 360 at 3rd place with 10.26, it's behind the original Xbox and the PS2. The PS3 is in 6th place (4 and 5 are Gamecube and Playstation, respectively) with 9.14, I would expect the PS3 numbers to be a bit lower because there were actually quite a few people who bought them to be blue ray players that can also "do other stuff". I am surprised that that the Wii came in as number 7, I thought it would be lower, I had heard the attach rate for it was not-so-good.

Regardless, it's as close to fact as it can be that Microsoft has lost $3 billion so far on their Entertainment division (those numbers are from Microsoft's financial reports). I think someone else pointed out that they are currently making about $300-400 million a year from the division now, so it'll "only" be about 10 years before it becomes net profitable, assuming the numbers hold relatively steady.

That's funny considering the same wives you speak of use cell phones which in my opinion are a far bigger breach of privacy than a game console. I say lets take out those cameras and microphones out of our phones. Ohhh, and what about our GPS coordinates that you can't disable because the providers have control? And now people are worried about the camera in their living room that is designed to improve/change you gaming experience, not spy. Sounds like ill informed decision making.

This article explains exactly how Kinect is designed to be safe and private:
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/06/microsoft-addresses-xbox-one-kinect-privacy-concerns/

The other part of it being a dick move is them denying refunds based on it not being crowdsourcing when IGP's CEO was saying that it WAS a crowdsourcing profram everywhere someone would listen: http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/30/mechwarrior-online-to-be-a-lot-better-thanks-to-crowdfunding/ "Speaking to Gamasutra, Infinite Game Publishing parent company boss Nick Foster said that MechWarrior Online was traditionally funded at first, but then used crowdfunding to make up any shortfalls. “We’ve raised minimal investment funds to build a viable product for each of our games. We then launch it [in beta] and use that minimum viable product to start generating an income stream,” he said. “We keep a very close partnership with our developers and use that income to reinvest in the game, build out the features that the users want, and head into a period of ongoing development. New content, new features. “The product will be a lot better for players because of the crowdfunding. It’s allowed us to maintain a higher level of ongoing development in the product, than if we were waiting for momentum to build immediately after going live. In the next few months, we’ll be able to release a lot more features.” http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/180401/ MechWarrior Online's long-awaited open beta begins today, partially made possible by a successful crowdfunding initiative that's raised over $5 million, without the help of Kickstarter. http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/10/29/mechwarrior-online-the-story-of-how-one-mmo-got-crowd-funded-wi/ "Nick Foster, CEO of Infinite Game Publishing's parent company 7G Entertainment, explained some of the rationale behind this approach to funding. "The product will be a lot better for players because of the crowdfunding. It's allowed us to maintain a higher level of ongoing development in the product than if we were waiting for momentum to build immediately after going live. In the next few months, we'll be able to release a lot more features." http://www.crowdsourcing.org/article/mechwarrior-onlines-unconventional-crowdfunding-pays-off/20390 "The success of the Founder's Program reinforces IGP's vision to help independent developers build exceptional games with the right economic model for the global marketplace," says IGP CEO Nick Foster. http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/29/the-first-of-three-major-titles-from-igp-mechwarrior-online-moves-into-its-open-beta-test/

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/08/20/disneys-toontown-closing-on-september-19/

Earlier numbers by Business Week may have reported that Microsoft is losing $126 on every Xbox 360 sold

and

Pricing the PlayStation 3 below its production cost caused Sony to lose $2.16 billion in 2007 and $1.16 billion in 2008, the company revealed today.

Since you were talking about EVE, check their implementation of Oculus Rift in the EVE universe.
link

The choice was worse than that. It was either

* Lose Other OS functionality (upgrade to 3.21 firmware or later)

* Lose: Online connectivity (online gaming, Netflix, Hulu), lose ability to play future blu-rays which require newer keys (confirmed in my non-upgraded PS3), lose ability to play future game titles that require a newer firmware, lose the ability to purchase and play titles and dlc sold via the playstation store.

Then a later firmware upgrade (3.50) blocked quite a few USB peripherals from working on the console

Apparently the PS4 isn't going to be region locked either.

source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/11/yoshida-ps4-is-region-free/

Elder Scrolls Online will be available for both PS4 and XB1.

ESO as an exclusive? That's not right at all: http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/06/10/the-elder-scrolls-online-is-headed-to-the-playstation-4/ Not to mention the PC...

The Wii U is doing pretty poorly. Even the original Wii is outselling it.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/pachter-wii-u-sales-hit-55-000-in-april-20-000-below-wii/

I have high hopes for this one. But the more delays, the less confidence I have.

They've had a problem with the controller buttons getting stuck and had to make the holes larger. From the idea to a worldwide launch in 9 months, not too shabby.

From JoyStiq.com: The Ouya isn't going to make its planned June 4 launch. The diminutive Android console will now launch on June 25. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman tells Joystiq that the decision was made in order to meet high demand at retail.

"We've had incredibly positive reactions from our retail partners, and so in order to meet their greater than expected demand, we decided to shift the launch date by a couple of weeks – three weeks – which will allow us to create more units and, basically, have more units on store shelves in June."

Uhrman also addressed one of Ouya's stickier issues, notably that the controller's buttons can get stuck underneath its faceplate. The problem has already been fixed, she says, and is being implemented in production. The solution: larger button holes. "I don't know what the exact millimeter is, but we've increased the size just a little bit, so now the buttons don't stick under it. We made that change very early so all the units are being produced with those larger button holes." The corrected controllers will ship alongside Ouya's retail launch units.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/ouya-launch-delayed-to-june-25-controller-defect-being-fixed/

As for Battlefront's Star wars even the player comments say what the OP does.

"For the love of GOD!! Put this on Dice's Frostbite 3 engine and its gaming orgasm!
Hoth on FB3 would be mind blowing! 64 players, walkers and speeders......passes out....."

"Now that EA has the reigns.....I'm sorry if the idea of the BATTLEFIELD 4 (or even 3)
Frostbite Engine coupled with STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT doesn't make you drool....
You are truly dead inside as a gamer."

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/06/star-wars-battlefront-3-live-stream-new-footage-appears/

Or maybe I just got the console wrong?

In any case yes, it's been widely reported that it will NOT have a real money auction house and will NOT require an always on internet connection like the PC which is a crock of shit given that they said it needed it since the servers would handle some portion of the game; but of course being on the PS3 most mid range PCs now are way past them.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/25/diablo-3-on-ps3-and-ps4-will-allow-offline-play/

"You can have four people on the same screen - no split-screen, we just zoom the camera out. Or if you're offline,"

If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?

Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.

Way to not answer to a single one of the GP's counterpoints to your initial points. Well done. You are a debate master ... as long as it's a political debate I guess.

If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?

Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.

Way to not answer to a single one of the GP's counterpoints to your initial points. Well done. You are a debate master ... as long as it's a political debate I guess.

If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?

Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.

Um, wait wait wait, your argument had nothing to do with stock price, you were criticizing their console and now all you have to show you're right are stock numbers? Maybe Nintendo's just a shitshow internally? No matter how good your console is, it doesn't change how horrible management can be. Strange, why didn't you compare that to Microsoft's entertainment division numbers? Or Sony's playstation division numbers? Oh right, because those divisions are also doing terribly and it doesn't conform to your narrative.

Oh, you want a FUD headline? Well SOMEBODY thinks XBox is the worst console!

If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?

Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.

Um, wait wait wait, your argument had nothing to do with stock price, you were criticizing their console and now all you have to show you're right are stock numbers? Maybe Nintendo's just a shitshow internally? No matter how good your console is, it doesn't change how horrible management can be. Strange, why didn't you compare that to Microsoft's entertainment division numbers? Or Sony's playstation division numbers? Oh right, because those divisions are also doing terribly and it doesn't conform to your narrative.

Oh, you want a FUD headline? Well SOMEBODY thinks XBox is the worst console!

If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?

Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.

If Nintendo is making all the right moves (as you seem to contend), why has their stock been dropping steadily for the last 5 years (from a high of over $72 to $12 now)? Obviously SOMEONE thinks they're screwing up, and it ain't just me. Maybe it has something to do with headlines like this and this?

Face it, they're NOT on the right path right now.

Except there are not many more.

Well, there are a few more...

- Having your network breached (and not telling your users until a week later) followed by a 24 day service outage.
- Breaching Weird Al Yankovic's contract and not distributing settlement funds.
- Suing an actor because he did commercials for someone else too.

I'd say by mega-corporation standards... they are just as sleazy as the rest.

If they decided to oppose RonPaul in the coming election and inform their 170k following of his mistakes, would he then get the right to shut them down for not playing nice? When does the First Amendment kick in and the UN's rights become secondary? To the merit if his detractors "Old Ron Paul" would have said the First Amendment trumps any UN opinions. He should go back to being Old Ron Paul and write them a check and be done with it.

In fact, yes he could have them shut down and the domain name forcibly taken from them. Activision obtained the ModernWarfare3.com domain for those very same reasons. The First Amendment is not, never has been, and would be a travesty if it ever were able to be used as a "Do whatever you want" clause. It very specifically only applies to things that are said, not things that are owned, and it doesn't make wishful thinking into a reality or automatically correct people who misunderstand their free speech limitations.

Ron Paul's main problem here is that he doesn't understand the Internet itself. If he has a domain name dispute, the UN is not the place to go to have it resolved. He should be talking to ICANN.

I think it's fair to assume that a substance is toxic well below the lethal dose.

The substance is toxic, period, regardless of dose. In fact, virtually anything, when given in high enough quantities, can be dangerous to humans. As most of us know, it's perfectly possible to die from water poisoning.

So, yes, caffeine is toxic to people even in lower dosages. It's also potentially dangerous to people in lower dosages, but as a measure of toxicity, we can take the LD50 as an indication that, in this case, most people would need to consume far more than they could ever reasonably be expected to consume in order to be in danger. And if you check the MSDS for caffeine, you'll see that it's labeled as being hazardous with a health hazard rating of 2, but that's pretty mild in general, and it's referring to it in an undiluted pure form too.

Sometimes I buy them even if I don't want to play them (seriously). I think I bought a Humble Bundle last year that I still haven't even looked at yet. Hell, I'm not even a gamer. But I'll spend money on non-DRM software just to encourage more of it.

New Humble Bundle Is Windows Only, DRM Games

I think that was an important "test". They caught a lot of flack over it. I personally didn't buy #6, but I did buy all the others except #6. A quick search hasn't resulted in a link to #6 so I can't check the sales breakdown at the source. The current Humble Indie Bundle 7 is cross platform and DRM free. I'd be interested if anyone would post the numbers from HIB #6, for science!

Here are the sales as listed for the "recent" bundles I purchased:
#4
Total payments: $2,373,878.85
Purchases #: 435,251
Average purchase: $5.45
Average Windows: $4.87
Average Mac: $7.61
Average Linux: $10.41

#V -- Which, surprisingly, did not include VVVVVV...
Total payments: $5,108,725.09
Purchases #: 599,004
Average purchase: $8.53
Average Windows: $7.98
Average Mac: $9.99
Average Linux: $12.48

#6
Reported as $2,048,330.42 @ joystiq

#7
Total payments: $2,651,762.57
Purchases #: 395,953
Average purchase: $6.70
Average Windows: $6.23
Average Mac: $7.95
Average Linux: $10.47

It's hard comparing sales because the games vary in quality and appeal from bundle to bundle -- #V (5) Had a strong showing with Pyschonauts, Braid, and Bastion, and others.

I think "DRM free" is the strongest selling point for me, but cross platform is a strong second -- even though actual Linux "support" seems flakey w/ most HiB games I still buy under Linux because A) I want them to know I'm (trying) to use Linux to play their games, and B) I won't enter my financial details into software I haven't audited and compiled myself (yes, I'm two of the "many eyes"). I have decent boxen for each OS, but prefer Linux. I even have multiple copies of the games on various platforms, yet I still buy the bundles if they don't have DRM. As a developer I've noted that the trivial amount of additional time it takes to support Linux natively when I start a project/game with a cross platform dev environment is well worth the additional revenue Linux users are willing to pay...

As promising as the one sentence description in the summary sounds, keep in mind that its being directed by Dominic Robilliard, the man behind The Force Unleashed 2. TFU2, you might remember, was a mediocre action game with a story that was ridiculous even by the standards of the Star Wars franchise, which already has more than its fair share of bad writing. It was rightly critically panned, and as far as I know sales weren't that hot either.

If the guy behind a game that Joystiq called "glorified fan fiction" about a character named "Starkiller" is capable of producing a "grounded and gritty fiction", I'll be quite surprised.

This is only for the eShop. After you have the game, then it doesn't matter. Sure, it's annoying, but it's only something you have to deal with when you want to buy a game. I don't think it's very outrage worthy, which is how some people are reacting, but whatever.

Here's a less FUDy article

I still think it's silly, especially it ending at 3am (or is that when kids wake up in Europe...?), but it's not like it's forcing you to only play your games in a specific 4 hour period.

People ARE outraged because indeed it's something they HAVE TO deal with, as you say, when they don't WANT TO deal with, something that is not of a technical nature but an arbitrary decision made in a boardroom.

And do we have any guarantees that it's going to stay that way? No, we don't. I need only say "Other OS" and we all know how that works. Nintendo would be crazy do it now, but a year or two down the road, "under pressure from ____" bladibla. It can happen... perhaps imaging the rules for TV broadcasts, so you can play from 9:00pm onwards, but arbitrary play restrictions can be made at any time (notwithstanding the likely existance of ways to circumvent this, which bears no relevance to the discussion about the fact itself).

This is only for the eShop. After you have the game, then it doesn't matter. Sure, it's annoying, but it's only something you have to deal with when you want to buy a game. I don't think it's very outrage worthy, which is how some people are reacting, but whatever.

Here's a less FUDy article

I still think it's silly, especially it ending at 3am (or is that when kids wake up in Europe...?), but it's not like it's forcing you to only play your games in a specific 4 hour period.

While I agree in principle that "holding one's games hostage" was a bad thing, you should listen to Gabe Newell's reasoning behind the TOS change here (fast forward to about 8:15). If you read the TOS, it doesn't talk about not being able to sue them, it's about not being able to start a class action suit against them. As Gabe Newell (briefly) explains in the video, the class action suits they face start out very one-sided in favor of the suing attorney. It costs them a ton of money just to go through the motions for the court, no matter if they're completely in the right or not. That's not exactly fair, regardless of how much money anyone thinks Valve has. As it was put in the video, "it's a shakedown."

Having worked as a class action attorney, I do agree with you to a certain extent. Many class actions are simply shakedowns by plaintiff attorneys. But they can also be one of the only ways to hold a company liable for their wrongdoing. Are you, or anyone for that matter, going to sue Valve/Steam for $50? I know I wouldn't go through the hassle of a lawsuit for so little money, even if I had a bulletproof case. And this works to the company's advantage because if they can take $50 from a million people through wrongful means, but none of those people will sue individually, then the company essentially just stole $50 million with no risk.

Granted, the attorneys on both sides see most of the money. But if you look at class actions as taking unjust gains away from companies, rather than reimbursing consumers, class action are, other than government action, the only way to really hold these companies accountable for their actions.

Steam not being douches? And what about when they say "accept our new licence agreement, the one where you we decide that you can't sue us no matter what, our we take back all the games you bought from us and all your games you bought elsewhere and which use our DRM" ?

Not allowing me to buy any new game from them if I don't accept their new licence is faire. Stealing the game I already bought because I don't like the idea of being assrape by a company is not. Steam are not only douches, they are crooks.

While I agree in principle that "holding one's games hostage" was a bad thing, you should listen to Gabe Newell's reasoning behind the TOS change here (fast forward to about 8:15). If you read the TOS, it doesn't talk about not being able to sue them, it's about not being able to start a class action suit against them. As Gabe Newell (briefly) explains in the video, the class action suits they face start out very one-sided in favor of the suing attorney. It costs them a ton of money just to go through the motions for the court, no matter if they're completely in the right or not. That's not exactly fair, regardless of how much money anyone thinks Valve has. As it was put in the video, "it's a shakedown."

There's two distinct ratings in the states: M & A, Dragon age is M:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/25/esrb-rating-explains-dragon-age-origins-sexual -exploits/

A is for one of those stupid adult sexploits games that nobody plays.

Even The Witcher 2 with full frontal got M.

They may have even discovered that gamers don't tolerate an internet connection level of input delay in their games!

Eh. I tried OnLive to see how well they accomplished what they did. Latency wasn't the main concern, but then I have a reasonable connection (~25Mbps) and may be geographically near one of their data centers. The main problems are more the following:

• The rendering quality was often crap; this may be a function of the encoding, but it doesn't matter. Washed-out colors, blurry video, and heavy artifacting don't make a great experience.
• Price model. This was too good to be true. Pay for the game or like $10/mo for their PlayPack stuff. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they can provide sufficient rendering at $700 a box on average for any given game. They need one rendering unit for every player. They need to pay for bandwidth and energy to run all these units, plus people to maintain them. They need to stay upgraded, generously, every year or two, to play the latest stuff. That's quite a bit of money to support a single user paying $120/year.
• Casual/hardcore disconnect. Is this for casual gamers who don't want to pay for a gaming PC? Or hardcore gamers who want to play all the latest stuff? A casual gamer can likely find plenty to play on their phone or the web; a hardcore gamer isn't going to be satisfied with the limitations. There may be a niche, but it doesn't seem big enough to support the model.

In the end this always seems to fail at a financial level: if it's cheap enough per-player that a $10/mo fee can cover licensing, hardware, and utility, then it's probably cheap enough the user is going to have his or her own device (e.g., a smartphone). If not, then it's not going to work anyway.

And it's not a matter of volume. Nintendo, Sony, and MS have volume on their consoles, and they still sell for $200+, often at a loss, and the only maintenance cost is warranty support. Making up for this on licensing isn't an option for OnLive, since they don't make any games. There are no exclusives.

The only way this might work (financially, at least) is a subsidized hardware console with a reasonable contracted subscription fee, and first-party game support as well as third-party exclusives. Gamestop might be trying this, but it's unclear if they're actually funding games or just providing a similar service.

Oh I think you are on to something. If I join you and a bunch of others in Operation Dildo Want, we can finally convince Nintendo to make a WarioWare ShoveItUpYourAssGame for the WiiU (now that the old Wii's sun will soon set). Then, when Platinum Games gets wind of this, their horrified management will cancel their Bayonetta 2 exclusivity plan there, and they'll move it and the original to, say, Steam where I can buy 'em for the PC!

...what!? I can dream! About the games...and her butt...and they've been kinda talking about it too...

You can get the entire TL2 soundtrack for free here. I though that was a nice gift from the guys at Runic (makes me feel a bit better about the lifetime Hellgate subscription).

FYI the whole soundtrack and the jewel case cover is included inside the game directory.

You can get the entire TL2 soundtrack for free here. I though that was a nice gift from the guys at Runic (makes me feel a bit better about the lifetime Hellgate subscription).

I haven't looked into the rumors of a steambox, but who is to say it won't be upgradable?

Perhaps it will be more of a loose set of standards than an unchanging appliance.

Ok, after a five second google, that looks like I may be right.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/08/valve-debunks-rumors-of-steam-box-console-pc/

Red Orchestra began as a mod. Garry's Mod for source. Desert Combat mod. Battlefield 2142 is essentially a mod for BF2. Not to mention Fallout, New Vegas series mods, Skyrim etc.

> Valve pointed out when they sold L4D 2 at some crazy low price like $10 their profits for that game went up something like 1700%

Actually L4D1 was 3000% more sales ;-)

You're probably thinking of the 1600% new steam customers.
i.e.
"Newell also mentioned that new Steam customers jumped 1600% over the same weekend, according to G4TV. Retail sales remained constant."

They also revealed gamers are extremely sensitive to pricing. (Digressing slightly, Hell most of my steam friends don't buy new games until they go one sale for $10. We already got a big backlog of great games to play, we'll get all the patches, plus we'll have better hardware to run a 2-year old game on.)

"The massive Steam holiday sale was also a big win for Valve and its partners. The following holiday sales data was released, showing the sales breakdown organized by price reduction:"
                10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
                25% sale = 245% increase in sales
                50% sale = 320% increase in sales
                75% sale = 1470% increase in sales

References:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/02/20/steams-left-4-dead-sale-increased-purchase-infection-by-3000/
http://www.shacknews.com/article/57308/valve-left-4-dead-half

Psst: The Xbox has been turning a profit for Microsoft since 2008. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/24/the-xbox-turns-a-profit/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/04/microsoft-posts-record-3rd-quarter-revenue-windows-resumes-growth-entertainment-back-in-the-red/